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iPhone 4 home button not working properly...

OrlandoTragic

OrlandoTragic

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2007
1,517
380
Orlando, FL
It's very unresponsive, and sometimes takes 3-4 clicks in order for it to actually register.

I got the phone on launch last year, so is there even anything Apple can do for me? Or am I pretty much screwed. :(

EDIT: The phone has never suffered any damage from a drop, etc., it just abruptly stopped. I also updated to 4.3.3 just in case it was a software issue, but its persisting.
 
duelingdragons said:
Yep, it is!
It's driving me crazy.
Click to expand...
Yeah man, i've heard a lot of people have taken their phone's to Apple and gotten replacement really easily for the Home Button issue. In one case, someone told the Genius Bar associate and they didn't even check it, they just went in the back and grabbed him a new phone.
 
First iPhone I had the home button was broke out of the box, and they said it's a known issue. They should exchange it no problem
 
I have the same problem. And like others, I hear a lot about people getting their phones replaced easily. I'm gonna have to make the drive to my nearest Apple Store and get mine swapped
 
Stupid question... but will receiving a replacement phone affect my ability to upgrade to a new model when the iPhone 5 comes out?

I would assume not, but just want to make sure.
 
What are the chances I get to the Apple Store and they turn me away? Like I said, it works most of the time but there are clearly some cases where clicks don't register.

I'm just afraid I'm gonna get down there and they're going to test it and it'll work perfectly, lol.
 
duelingdragons said:
What are the chances I get to the Apple Store and they turn me away? Like I said, it works most of the time but there are clearly some cases where clicks don't register.

I'm just afraid I'm gonna get down there and they're going to test it and it'll work perfectly, lol.
Click to expand...

Haha, 90% chance they'll give you a new phone free of charge. Make sure you go in when it's busy though ;), they'll want to get you out of the store asap due to other appointments. It's called "premature home button failure". It's listed in their warranty, and they actually cover it, I read on it. No signs of physical damage almost always lead to a new iphone free of charge.
 
well what about now? i know for launch day iphones, the warranty has expired

the genius at the apple store actually told me it's a known software issue that should be addressed soon (i'm assuming that her manager must have told her to say that)

really frustrating issue :mad: is this issue quite prevalent?
 
Try a restore as new first, I fixed my home button issue on both of my devices this way.

Sometimes home button issues are just lag.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

MaxBurn said:
Try a restore as new first, I fixed my home button issue on both of my devices this way.

Sometimes home button issues are just lag.
Click to expand...

Alright I will try to set up as new device tonight - will report back to share what happens...

Thanks Max, I'll also try cleaning it with one of those compressed air cans perhaps.
 
NYYankees said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)



Alright I will try to set up as new device tonight - will report back to share what happens...

Thanks Max, I'll also try cleaning it with one of those compressed air cans perhaps.
Click to expand...

Well, I did a clean restore, and it looks like it has apparently solved the problem. The home button is a lot more responsive. Works pretty much like it used to!
:D
 
Well, that was easy!
Went to the Apple Store, the guy tried getting to the multitasking bar a few times, saw that it wasn't working right, and instantly swapped me out :)
 
Also, he told me that since the phone was six days out of warranty, technically I would have to pay $199, but they waived the fee. (which I'm assuming they will probably do for everyone)
 
I ended up being able to exchange mine tonight for the same reason (well, that and a funky smudge that suddenly started appearing on my photos despite having an immaculate lens...and it doesn't show up in Hipstamatic photos, which is the weirdest bit). I'd tried restoring first in case that solved either the home button or camera issues but never got it all the way through the restore, so I finally gave up and dragged it into the store as-is. The genius gave me no trouble at all about exchanging it, despite it being 6 days out of warranty. He did specify that it was a one-time exception, but the 90-day warranty on the one I got today should (hopefully) carry me through until iP5 launch.
 
Mine just started this too! I thought maybe some moisture got into it at the pool yesterday, but there was no water by the phone and it was on a table 6 feet away. It barely works at all, and this problem just came out of nowhere. I'm not sure what to do.
 
Thanks to all for the information! Looks like I'll be backing everything up tonight and going to Apple store tomorrow after work.

Btw, is there a way to backup contacts, texts, etc?

Also, does anyone know if AT&T would exchange the phone? AT&T store is 5 minutes away, Apple store more than an hour away.
 
So the Apple store is trading these in? Can I go to AT&T? This problem just happened, and I'm already sick of it.
 
Try a restore first and if that doesn't solve it, take it to the Apple store and tell them that it's "premature home button failure", as another posted said.
 
Try this low-tech fix first!

I had the same issue with my iPhone 4 and after googleing shortly I found this thread on the apple discussion boards.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2541121?start=0&tstart=0

Turns out it is a very low tech problem that can be solved fairly simply:
Dust accumulates and may lodge some particle under the home button. Either take a can of pressurised air and blow it up the Dock-connector, or just stick a hoover up there. It works wonders!
 
Another Fix

I tried the canned air and that didn't seem to fix it. But then after hitting it kind of hard on a soft couch, pillow, or computer chair, with the dock connector facing downward, it now works like a champ!
 
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